GONZALES- Teachers and staff in Ascension Parish schools received a 3 percent pay raise as part of a $219 million dollar budget that passed Tuesday evening.

The budget includes a permanent pay raise, which hasn't happened in nearly six years.

"Of course you always appreciate the money, but it's more about the school board saying they appreciate all the hard work all the effort that we do, because it's not a 9to 5 job it's a 24/7 job," said Emily Provencher, an 8th grade teacher at Gonzales Middle.

The budget also makes room to provide technology to nearly every student between 5th and 12th grade.

Ascension is one of the fastest growing school systems in the state, but recently, it's managed to maintain a high level of performance, ranking third in the state this year.

"It's kind of that balancing act between, yes we have a lot of resources, but every year we grow, four, five, six hundred students," said Patrice Pujol, Superintendent of Ascension Parish Schools.

The system is also hoping to use $36 million dollars to make improvements to schools across the parish, including adding freshman academies to the high schools.